Our Fitness Blog

Wearable Fitness Tech – Is it Working?

If you pay attention to many people’s wrists these days, you’ll see wearable technology practically everywhere. This trend can seem smart and noble and it definitely can be, if you are using it correctly.

However, many people put these wearables on and then proceed to live their lives exactly the same way they were before the device hit their wrist. Don’t let this be you! If you are going to go to the effort to purchase and wear a device, make sure you are utilizing it to the max.

So, how do you do this?

Use the Data

Once you have your initial data, you have to change something in your activity in order to reach your goals. For instance, if you buy a monitor and start tracking how many steps you take each day, great. But if you don’t increase your steps after you gather how many you’ve already been averaging, then you are just not going to see change. You’ll be the same person; you will just know how many steps it takes to be you. Remember, you had a goal… you can’t reach it if you keep living the same way you were living before you bought a piece of tracking technology.

If you have heartrate readings included as a feature in your tech, that’s a very useable piece of data. Using heart rate data is of my favorite ways to increase fitness success.

But, we don’t want to get a heart rate monitor to simply keep working out at the same exact pace we were and in the same exact way that we already were. Make sure you are adjusting based on the data you’re now receiving from your technology, if you want to see change.

What Kind of Change?

For instance, most people, ironically, find that their heart rate is higher than they thought while exercising. So, what should they do with that info? Well, if fat loss is their goal, they need to be mindful of keeping their heartrate at a moderate pace for 90% of their workout, not as high as they can go. Most people mistakenly think that harder is better. However, if you work out at a high heart rate too much and for too long, then you are actually turning your body to use its own muscle as fuel.

What happens when we use muscle as fuel? It’s not the answer you probably want to hear: we don’t burn fat anymore! Not good. Muscle is your fat burner so you don’t ever want to burn it away. When you slow your heart rate down and maintain a moderately intense pace throughout the work out, then you are utilizing fat as your fuel source and burning it off. This takes deliberate effort though. It’s harder to slow down your heart rate than you think. Often we may feel fine working at a high heart rate but it really doesn’t matter if our body is suffering for it. I always say, “The heart doesn’t lie. Listen to it.”

This is why, at 9Round, we encourage members to keep it in the yellow and green zones! The yellow and green zones are the zones that enable you to burn the most fat and save your precious muscle! After all, you’ve worked so hard for that muscle so that you can be a fat burning machine (even in your sleep)! This method takes patience and if you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll see your heart rate efficiency dramatically improve and likely quicker than you thought! It helps that you can look up on our heart rate screen and see exactly what your heart is doing in real time during every 9Round workout with our heart rate technology!

The bottom line is, in order to get the most out of your tech, you must react accordingly to the data it is giving you if you aren’t a fan of wasting your money. If you just like the way it looks on your wrist as a fashion statement, well, that’s another story!

Heather Hudson has been with 9Round since inception in 2008 and is COO and Co-Founder of 9Round Franchising. She is a black belt in Shotokan Karate and grew up with a passion for fitness and overall wellness.